


Good in the Universe

by TheJediCode



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Developing Friendships, F/M, Friendship, Hoth, Male-Female Friendship, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Post-Star Wars: A New Hope, Pre-Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Reader-Insert, Reader-Interactive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 12:53:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11851986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheJediCode/pseuds/TheJediCode
Summary: Very rarely do people get the chance to meet their heroes.  Even fewer bond with theirs.





	Good in the Universe

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second oneshot I've posted today, and I have no regrets. The world needs more friend fics, don't you think?

Everyone in the universe knew his name.  Half of them wanted to hunt him down and kill him.  The other half praised him as a war hero.  They all knew who he was, though, and what he had done. 

Despite all of this, you had never met Luke Skywalker.  You had heard stories, rumors mostly, about the things he could do.  Whispers floated through trading posts across the galaxy that the boy from Tatooine could use the Force.  Tales were told in cantinas a world away that he had destroyed the Death Star with his eyes closed.  You wondered how much of it was true and how much was simple hearsay.  The Alliance had given him a medal, you knew, honoring him for his actions.  You had missed the ceremony, still stationed far from Yavin 4.  More than anything else, you wanted to meet the young hero face to face, if not to learn the truth then at least to thank him for what he had done.

You had recently been stationed on the ice planet Hoth, and you had never been so cold in all of your life.  You had been born and raised on a desert planet, and while the temperature dropped at night, it never came close to the frozen tundra you now called your temporary home.  Every precaution had been taken against frostbite and hypothermia, but no article of clothing could keep out the perpetual chill that threatened to freeze your very bones.

“I think I’ve forgotten what it means to be warm,” a pilot sitting near you voiced aloud one day in the mess hall. 

“I used to live on Naboo,” another rebel commiserated.  “It was like a neverending summer.  I can barely remember a day when it wasn’t sunny.”

You laid down the fork you had been using to push your food around the tray in front of you, sick of eating nothing but war rations.  “Yeah, well that’s nothing compared to the desert,” you informed them.  “Try having the sun beating down on your neck every single day with no escape from the heat.  There aren’t any shade trees, and there’s not a single drop of moisture in the air.  I never thought I’d miss it, but I was never really cold before.”

“I know exactly what you’re talking about,” said a young man seated across the table from you, nodding his head in understanding.  “My family farmed moisture on Tatooine.  What planet did you say you’re from?”

“Jakku,” you told him, “the sorriest excuse for a planet in this galaxy.”

The two of you struck up a conversation about your similar upbringing.  Long after everyone else had left the table, you were still talking.  The young man was bubbly and energetic with a bright smile and kind eyes.  You found yourself hanging on every word he said.

“You know, I don’t think I caught your name,” he pointed out.

“Oh, I’m (Y/N),” you informed him.  “(Y/N) (L/N).”

He held out his arm to shake your hand.  “Luke Skywalker.”

You had partially extended your own hand when you froze.  “Did you say Luke Skywalker?”

“Yep, that’s me.”

“As in the Luke Skywalker who singlehandedly destroyed the Death Star?  That Luke Skywalker?” 

“I wouldn’t say _singlehandedly,_ ” he said humbly, “but unless there’s another Luke Skywalker out there I don’t know about, I guess that’s me.”

“I didn’t realize I was talking to a war hero.”  You quickly grabbed his hand and shook it, realizing it was not every day you had the opportunity to meet someone who had already made such a name for himself within the Rebel Alliance.  “Thank you for all you’ve done for the Rebellion.”

“I’m no hero,” he insisted.  “I was just doing what anyone else would have done in that situation.” 

His statement was unbelievably cliché, but you realized that he meant every word.  In fact, the way he spoke made you feel like he had never made an ingenuine statement in his life.

“Maybe it’s what everyone else wishes they would do, but I don’t know anyone who could pull that off,” you assured him.  “They don’t give those medals out to just anyone.”

“Oh, the medal,” he blushed.  He clearly wasn’t too thrilled with the amount of recognition he had received since the destruction of the Death Star.  You understood.  Though he was friendly and overwhelmingly charismatic, you sensed that he was a rather private person and didn’t like being in the limelight.

“Well, whether you did it singlehandedly or not,” you conceded, letting him have his moment of humility, “the Rebellion wouldn’t be what it is today without you.  Thanks for all you’ve done Luke Skywalker.”

“You can just call me Luke,” he told you with a friendly smile.

“Alright then,” you relented.  “Thank you, Luke.  I really mean it.”

“That’s the thing – _everyone_ means it.  It’s all I hear all the time.  It’s just now gotten to the point where the rest of Red Squadron has stopped talking about it.”

“It’s worth talking about, isn’t it?”

“There are so many more important things to talk about, though.  This war isn’t over yet.  I know we can win it, but there’s still a lot of fighting to do.  We can’t let that get away from us.”

“You sound confident,” you noted.

“The Force is with us,” he said assuredly, as if that explained everything.

“So, is it true?” you asked him in awe.  “Are you really a Jedi?”

Luke didn’t say anything; he simply stared at the table.  You wondered if you had offended him or overstepped your bounds in some way.  That was when you noticed your long-abandoned fork floating a foot above the table.  When you reached out to grab it, it darted just out of your reach.  Again, you tried to catch it, but it zoomed away before you could even touch it.  For several seconds, your hand followed the fork, unable to ever get ahold of it until it came to rest gently beside your tray.

“I guess that answers my question,” you observed.

Ever modest, he told you, “I still have a lot to learn.” 

“It seems to me like you know a lot already.”

“Obi-Wan Kenobi was just starting to teach me how to use the Force, but he died on the Death Star.  Darth Vader killed him, just like he killed my father.  That’s part of why I feel like I need to devote myself to this fight.  It’s what my father would want.  He was a Jedi, you know.  It’s like I’m fighting in his memory.”

“That’s a very noble thought.”

“And you?” Luke asked curiously.

“What about me?”

“Why are you here? What are you fighting for?”

You sighed.  “There are a lot of reasons I’m here, and I have a lot of things to fight for.  I’m in it for family, safety, justice, all the usual answers.  Most of all, though, I’m here because I believe in a free galaxy, and I believe that the Rebellion can bring us that once and for all.”

“Well said.”

“I want to believe that there’s still good in the universe.”

“As long as there are people like you who think that way, there always will be good,” he said

“And as long as there are people like you,” you told him with a smile, “who are willing to fight for what’s right, no matter the cost, I can keep believing.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Your kudos and comments are always appreciated. I'd love to hear what you all think. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. I usually try to respond within 24 hours.


End file.
